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Although several studies have examined the effectiveness of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools in enhancing L2 speaking , it remains unclear whether learners with low and high levels of anxiety benefit similarly from AI-based instruction. The present study examined the extent to which learners with varying levels of anxiety, specifically high and low, benefit from an AI-based speaking assistant, Character AI. This r esearch involved 30 intermediate EFL learners from a language institute, who were identified and labeled as high -anxiety (HA) and low-anxiety (LA) groups based on their anxiety scores. Following a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, the initial phase involved administering the Oxford Placement Test (OPT) to determine participants' language proficiency, followed by a pre-test that served as a benchmark of their speaking proficiency before exposure to the Character AI app. Over the course of the study, participants engaged with Character AI for speaking practice and feedback. The results showed that Character AI-based support was beneficial for promoting FL speaking by fostering enhanced interaction and oral communication. It was also observed that learners with lower initial anxiety levels demonstrated greater improvements in speaking, implying that anxiety may moderate the benefits of AI-driven educational technologies. The qualitative findings underscore the potential of AI technologies as robust tools in L2 speaking, facilitating personalized, interactive, and learner-centric learning experiences. The present outcomes provide substantial insights into the interactions between psychological factors, technological integration, and language acquisition within the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) framework.

Language learners find it hard to change a text’s wording and present it differently while maintaining the original meaning in the text. This research, therefore, examined the effect of concept mapping instruction on summarizing short stories for EFL learners. Two intact grade-eight classes were assigned to experimental (n = 20) and control (n = 18) groups randomly. They summarized a starter-level short story, Drive into danger, using a maximum of 450 words as a pretest. Next, the experimental group experienced concept-mapping instruction, whereas the latter group received the traditional way of teaching summarization, for six consecutive weeks. Both groups summarized the same story again, based on their instruction, into a 450-word text at a maximum as a posttest. Pretest and posttest summaries were assessed in terms of content, organization, vocabulary, and language use. The experimental group positively improved on overall performance, content, and organization, marginally improved on vocabulary, but did not improve on language use. Furthermore, the participants’ feedback on the instructional treatment supports the statistical results. The findings offer several instructional implications.

riting assessment literacy (WAL) for second or foreign language (L2) teachers, which refers to teachers’ knowledge, conceptions, and practice of writing assessment in L2 contexts, has lately received attention from scholars. Although there has been significant debate about the impact of contextual and conceptual factors on teachers’ assessment literacy, studies focusing on how such factors influence teachers’ WAL are lacking. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the way Iranian English writing teachers' conception of assessment, and macro, meso, and micro contextual variables, impact their writing assessment practice. It also looked at how writing teachers make assessment decisions in order to negotiate and find a compromise when their assessment views and beliefs diverge from the assessment policies in their local contexts. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews with ten in-service L2 writing teachers in Iran. The findings show that participants had positive conceptions about formative writing assessments, but they stated that they mostly used summative assessments in writing classes. Macro-level contextual factors turned out to mostly impact teachers’ writing assessment practices and conceptions. The results underscored the role of school and work experience in shaping and changing writing assessment conceptions. The findings of this study contribute to our current understanding of WAL development and the provision of more efficient assessment training for language teachers in teacher education programs.

As a trigger to communication, motivation still includes undiscovered aspects which require further investigation. Hence, considering the newly proposed dual continuum model of motivation, this study investigated the relationships among willingness to communicate (WTC), active/passive motivation, and foreign language achievement (FLA) among 216 high school English as a foreign language (EFL) learners. The modified version of the active/passive motivation scale (APMS) was revalidated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed significant relationships among active/passive motivation, L2WTC, and FLA. Additionally, six models were proposed for the prediction of learners’ L2WTC and FLA. The findings indicated that socio-cultural and sensory-perceptual active motivation as well as cognitive and sensory-perceptual passive motivation significantly predict learners’ L2WTC, while only cognitive active motivation predicts FLA. Furthermore, passive motivation predicts FLA in all sub-constructs. Finally, active motivation is a negative predictor of FLA if mediated by L2WTC. Overall, the study highlights the importance of passive as well as active motivation in promoting WTC and improving FLA among EFL learners.

English Medium Instruction (EMI) is increasingly adopted in higher education worldwide, yet its application in music education within non-English-speaking contexts remains underexplored. The application of EMI plays a crucial role in improving learners' English skills and subject matter, which can also affect learners' achievement. The most important predictor of learners' performance and success is self-efficacy, which is also a relevant concept in the area of music performance. This Review investigates the role of self-efficacy in shaping music students' academic achievement in EMI settings, where language and performance intersect. The study aims to identify how learners' self-efficacy in their musical and linguistic abilities influences their success and motivation. It contributes to EMI literature by highlighting self-efficacy as a mediating factor between language proficiency and academic performance in music education. The findings offer practical implications for curriculum design, instructional strategies, and learner support. Specifically, the study emphasizes the need to integrate self-efficacy-building practices—such as performance feedback, peer collaboration, and goal-setting—into EMI-based music instruction to enhance both linguistic and artistic development.

The widespread integration of technology into education has led to significant reliance on online assessment. Despite its prevalence, concerns about the fairness of online assessment persist. While this issue has attracted considerable attention, empirical investigations, particularly those exploring teachers' perceptions of fairness in online assessment, remain scarce. Additionally, existing frameworks for assessing fairness in an online context seem inadequate. To address these concerns, the current study investigated Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' perceptions of fairness in online assessment. Moreover, the study aimed to develop a valid scale to measure the fairness of assessment practices in the online context. Employing a mixed-methods approach, the study conducted a structured interview with 20 EFL teachers, and the resulting data were transcribed and analyzed qualitatively. Ten major codes or themes derived from the data were access, knowledge, personal factors, clear criteria, item quality, safety, policies, teaching quality, assessment type, and administration. The codes were subsequently classified into three overarching categories: student level, teacher level, and organizational level. Then, based on the interview findings and the existing literature, an online assessment fairness questionnaire was developed and administered to a sample of 100 EFL teachers, whose results verified five core factors of online assessment fairness. The study's findings offer a novel understanding of teachers' perspectives on the fairness of online assessment and the factors that contribute to its fairness or unfairness.

Critical Incidents (CIs) have become central to language teacher development by promoting reflective practice, a key element of teacher education. This study examines critical incidents (CIs) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes in public high schools. Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 teachers and 15 students across 7 public schools, analyzing narratives using thematic analysis within a complexity theory framework. Three themes emerged: Teaching high and lows, classroom management issues, and language proficiency. Teachers felt challenged by the frequent number of CIs, associating their management skills and immunity with their response to these events, and viewed Iranian public schools as particularly susceptible. Similarly, students highlighted both the negative and positive aspects of CIs and noted cultural diversity and language skills as key factors. The study's findings align with complexity theory by highlighting the dynamic, interconnected, and adaptive nature of teaching and learning in public schools. The emergent patterns of emotional responses, classroom management strategies, and language proficiency interactions reflect the principles of sensitivity to initial conditions, self-organization, and co-evolution.

Given the pivotal role that social and psychological factors play in the field of teaching English as a foreign language, the present study focused on exploring the relationship among collegiality, identity, and emo-educational divorce. However, the nature of this relationship, i.e., the direction and level of this connection have not been explored, yet. To address this need, a total of 227 Iranian English language teachers of universities, schools, and language institutes filled out collegiality scale along with identity, and emo-educational divorce questionnaires. Then, analyses indicated that emo-educational divorce was negatively correlated with teacher identity and teacher collegiality, whereas identity and collegiality were positively correlated; moreover, the subconstructs of emo-educational divorce showed different predictive behaviors with regard to teacher collegiality and teacher identity. Finally, the findings were discussed and implications were reviewed to pay close attention to the role of the combination of social and psychological elements in EFL teaching contexts.

ranslated literature almost always involves a degree of manipulation of the source text for a certain purpose. Such manipulations are imposed by the ‘patrons’ who try to regulate the relationship between the literary system and the other systems a society is composed of. Working on this fundamental broadly-acknowledged assumption about translation, the present study aimed at identifying the concepts that are often manipulated in translated literature published in contemporary Iran. It also attempted to spot the manipulative strategies imposed on translations and the counter-manipulative strategies adopted by translators to sidestep those manipulations. Drawing on the findings of the so-called ‘Manipulation School’ and Dukāte’s typology of manipulation strategies, it conducted a comparative analysis of the source texts and translated versions of four American novels recently published in Iran. The codification of the data revealed the frowned upon taboo concepts to be descriptions of, or references to, sexual activity, physical contact between the sexes, human body, extramarital relationships, swear words, prostitution, nudity, homoeroticism, alcoholic drinks, and dancing. The most frequent manipulation strategies were 1) deletion of the taboo concepts, 2) substitution of the concepts with totally different concepts, and 3) attenuation of the forbidden words, that is to say, expressing them in a more polite, softer language. Although the manipulation mechanism is most effectively in place, the translators seemed to have occasionally applied creative strategies to evade the imposed manipulations. Such counter-manipulative strategies were classified as legitimization, archaism, use of less familiar words, degenderalization, denunciation, and borrowing in this study.

Although reflective teaching and well-being have been promoted as a means to promote teaching quality, there is little empirical evidence to illustrate their impact on enhancing professional development. To fill this existing gap, this study adopts a mixed-methods approach to examine the contribution of reflection and psychological well-being as predictors of professional development. In so doing, 350 English language teachers participated in a survey and follow-up interviews. The correlational analysis confirmed the positive relationship among these three constructs, and a structural equation modelling indicated that both reflection and well-being significantly predicted professional development; however, well-being was a stronger predictor compared to reflection. The qualitative analysis of data revealed four main themes contributing to professional development among teachers. The pedagogical implications are also elaborated and discussed.

Cet article examine le rôle de l’intelligence artificielle (IA) dans l’amélioration de la compétence orale chez les apprenants de français langue étrangère (FLE) en Iran. Il s’interroge sur la manière dont l’IA peut contribuer, de manière efficace et contextualisée, au développement de cette compétence dans un environnement culturellement spécifique. L’étude repose sur une enquête menée auprès de 20 apprenants de FLE en Iran. La collecte de données s’est effectuée à travers un questionnaire ciblant leurs compétences orales, leur expérience d’usage de l’IA et leur perception de l’adéquation culturelle des contenus générés. L’analyse des données mobilise une approche mixte (quantitative via SPSS et qualitative) et un cadre théorique pluridisciplinaire. Ce cadre s’appuie sur la théorie de la compétence communicative de Dell Hymes, la théorie de l’adaptation culturelle de Kim et Hall, les approches discursives-pragmatiques de John Searle et surtout sur la théorie du carré tensif de Fontanille. Les résultats indiquent que l’IA permet d’améliorer la prononciation et la fluidité, encourage l’usage des expressions idiomatiques françaises et développe la souplesse linguistique. Par la création d’environnements vérisimilitudinaires (contextes d’interaction réalistes et culturellement cohérents) et des retours personnalisés en temps réel, l’IA favorise un apprentissage actif et individualisé. Toutefois, certaines limites subsistent : la difficulté à reproduire les dimensions émotionnelles, gestuelles et implicites des interactions humaines, ainsi qu’à intégrer la diversité dialectale régionale.